frost

This was written when he was about 45. About the time that he would have a mid-life crisis. He can see that he is no longer the young man that once he was, not able to climb the trees like he did nor able to play like that. He talks of when he was a "swinger of birches" and how he dreams of being one again. He knows that this is not a reality for him. Frost also uses the trees in this poem to represent a way to get away from the cares and trials of life on Earth. He talks of getting away and coming back to start over. Climbing "toward Heaven". He desires to be free from it all, but then he says that he is afraid that the fates might misunderstand and take him away to never return. This is like most of us today. We want to go to Heaven, but we don't want to die to get there. In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", Frost describes a thick patch of woods that are a long way from anything. He does not go into great detail describing them, leaving that to the readers imagination. He merely describes them as "lovely, dark and deep". This lack of detail is to help us focus not so much on all the things that are there, as the things that aren't. He mentions that the horse must be thinking that this is strange to stop here, with no barn near. The only thing that is nearby is nature. The lake is frozen, the trees and ground are covered with snow. During a snowstorm, sound does not travel very well. It is very muddled and muted. The only sounds that are mentioned in the poem are the bells on the horse's harness and the wind. So, the rider is stopping to smell the roses. He is taking a break from the world around him, watching these woods fill with snow. Then, he remembers his cares and is off, with miles and miles to go. While there are many similarities in these poems, there are also several differences. In "Birches", the season is both summer and winter. In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" winter.